A typical (parallel plate) RIE system consists of a cylindrical vacuum chamber, with a chuck located in the bottom portion of the chamber. The wafer platter is electrically insulated from the rest of the chamber. Gas enters through small inlets in the top of the chamber, and exits to the vacuum pump system through the bottom.
Another type of an RIE system is an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) RIE. In the ICP RIE system, the plasma is generated with an RF powered magnetic field. Very high plasma densities can be achieved, though etch profiles tend to be more isotropic.
A combination of parallel plate and inductively coupled plasma RIE system is possible. In the combined system, the ICP is employed as a high density source of ions which increases the etch rate, whereas a separate RF bias is applied to the silicon wafer on the chuck to create directional electric fields near the silicon wafer to achieve more anisotropic etch profiles.